Mulligan 'struck by natural beauty' of Seashore

Ryan Fitzgerald

Friday

Feb 2, 2018 at 3:01 AM

EASTHAM – Shawn Mulligan’s work has led him across the U.S. to states like Hawaii, Alaska, and Montana, as well as to foreign destinations like Cambodia, Guam, and Saipan. But for the past few months he has been the acting superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

“I’m struck by its natural beauty,” Mulligan said of the Seashore. “I’ve had the opportunity to canoe in these waters, stand-up paddle board, swim in the ponds – I’ve spent hours on these beaches watching the waves.” He became acting superintendent during favorable weather in September, is working through the winter and will remain until early March.

Come April, the newly named superintendent, Brian Carlstrom, takes the helm, replacing former superintendent George Price, who retired last June.

Mulligan noted his first time on the Cape came about two decades ago to advise the Seashore on some contaminants issues. This is his first time in an acting superintendent role and specifically working within the National Park Service.

“Basically, running a park is like running a small corporation,” he said. “You’ve got maintenance issues, operational issues, budgetary issues, administrative issues, delivery of positive visitor experience. “This park has a great management team and dedicated professionals at every level,” he said. He added that he’s impressed by the personal and professional commitments of his colleagues.

During the recent government shutdown Salt Pond Visitor Center closed and there were no NPS-provided visitor services at the Seashore. The shutdown lasted just three days, which Mulligan was thankful for.

Prior to landing temporarily on the Cape, Mulligan led an interesting practice with the NPS that has taken him around the globe.

He was born in Minneapolis and grew up in the Midwest. He attended high school in Fargo, N.D., and studied economics at Stanford University. After graduating he attended law school at UCLA. During law school he worked in Washington D.C. as part of a legal externship program offered at UCLA and met his future wife while there.

She was living in Colorado at the time, so when Mulligan finished law school, he moved to Colorado and became an assistant attorney general for the state. “[I worked] in their CERCLA litigation section,” he said.

CERCLA stands for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as the Superfund Act. “I was representing the state of Colorado on a wide variety of multi-million dollar hazardous substance cleanup cases on behalf of the public in Colorado,” he said.

Then Mulligan started private practice and began doing policy work related to mining issues for the NPS. A few years later he founded the NPS Contaminated Sites Program, which develops and prosecutes cases where the NPS has a contaminants release situation that a third party is liable for under the Superfund statute.

“An example might be a landfill where historically the landfill was operated on property that is now NPS land,” he said. “Often during acquisitions, for example, [the NPS] might acquire property that’s contaminated.”

Mulligan was notably appointed special attorney by the Department of Justice to prosecute U.S. vs. Chrysler Corporation (N.D. Ohio 2001), a matter that resulted in the full restoration of the 47-acre Krejci industrial dumpsite in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, located in Akron, Ohio. Mulligan said he spent about 6,000 hours on the case.

“People are surprised there are contaminated sites in the national park,” he said. “There are slightly more than 400 NPS units throughout the tapestry of parks in this country. We have thousands of contaminated sites within these NPS units.”

Mulligan said it was during his junior year at Stanford when he realized he wanted to get involved in this line of work. “I initially got interested in [this practice] because of studying economics and environmental issues associated with economic development. Marrying that with the legal process to shift societal costs to the correct economic entity – I think it all ties together.”

He said he’s loved being on the Cape. “It’s an iconic park,” he said. “It’s on the vanguard of a variety of scientific discoveries. [The park] has a strong, very capable team with excellent leadership at the deputy level and division heads.”

Mulligan said he has crossed paths with Carlstrom in the past. “I was really impressed with him when we’ve met and I think he will be a good match,” he said.

Mulligan said this experience has made him think about pursuing a NPS leadership role in the future. But for now, when he leaves in a couple months, he will return to his work with the contaminated sites program.